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Friday, June 7, 2013
by Michael Loatman
A company's brand reputation can take decades to build, and in the social media age, seconds to be imperiled. Taco Bell Corp. faced that problem after a man posted a photo June 2 allegedly depicting an employee licking multiple taco shells at a Ridgecrest, Calif., store on the company's Facebook page.
The photo went viral and has been shared at least 3,000 times on Facebook and displayed on multiple media outlets.
Taco Bell did not delay in responding. It issued June 3 a statement regarding the "Taco Shells Social Media Issue" that made clear "[i]n the spirit of full transparency" exactly what it believed happened.
The company said the taco shells in the photo were used in a training exercise before a new product launch. The photo, it explained, originally was taken by two employees for an internal contest requesting submissions of photos of employees enjoying their first bite of the new product.
Taco Bell said, "The contest had clear guidelines about what was acceptable and unacceptable. This image was clearly unacceptable . . . and the employees never submitted it."
The fast food company said the taco shells shown in the photo never were served to customers. It added that its franchisee had suspended the worker in the photo and was in the process of terminating his employment.
Taco Bell's swift and matter-of-fact response to the photo may have been popular with its customers. Its June 3 comment to the photo that it has a "zero tolerance" policy regarding food handling procedures and is investigating the matter has received over 300 likes on Facebook.
Copyright 2013, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
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